A circus in St. Petersburg, a prince’s palace and a Viennese hotel are the locations for Emmerich Kálmán(1882–1953)‘s ‘Zirkusprinzessin’ – and its plot set in the year 1912 lives from just the sort of ingredients and characters which make a good operetta: love, intrigue, disguise and finally a happy ending involving exotic circus folk, Russian and French aristocrats and the staff of the Viennese hotel and restaurant. As with Franz Lehár, Kálmán‘s princess Fedora Palinska remains a “merry widow” up until the point when the Russian state starts to take an interest in her not inconsiderable inheritance. However, she is the only one in the world of appearances which surrounds her who is not hiding anything, but rather insisting on her position. The secretive Mr. X is not a circus artist, Miss Mabel is not English, Toni is not an aristocrat, Prince Sergius is not a considerate advisor and Carla is not a wicked mother-in-law.

For Kálmán and the distinguished cast of the world premiere, the “Circus Princess” became an overwhelming success at the Theater an der Wien in 1926 and opened the way for the composer to New York and Broadway. Just like his other pieces ‘Csárdásfürstin’ and ‘Gräfin Mariza’, this operetta is also sustained by rousing melodies, dances ranging from the waltz to the foxtrot, amazing acrobatic and snappy variety numbers, which - depending on the setting – exude either Slavic elegance or Viennese charm, together with movingly sentimental love scenes to dream about.

At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein ‘Die Zirkusprinzessin’ will be seen in a production by the Artistic Director of the Munich Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Josef E. Köpplinger. This highly experienced man of the theatre, whose directing career has taken him from Vienna to Germany, Switzerland, France, England, America and Japan and who was awarded the Bavarian Prize for Culture in 2013, has made a name for himself in recent years with a series of witty and imaginative operetta and musical productions.